A petition with more than 1,200 names fighting plans for new homes in a Northamptonshire village have been handed over to their MP.

Chris Heaton-Harris, MP for Daventry, met with some of the protestors in Weedon on Saturday and pledged to deliver the letter to the Secretary of State.

Residents are battling plans for new 121 new homes on land off New Street. Daventry District Council rejected the plans but the decision was overturned after developers, Gladman, went to appeal.

Mr Heaton-Harris said: ““The recent Planning Inspectorate decisions in Weedon are inconsistent and show how out of touch the Planning Inspectorate is and how it is going out of its way to destroy “localism” by completely ignoring the views of local residents.

“I’ve already raised this matter with Ministers, but would very much appreciate it if people could, in some way, record their views on this matter, so I can then reiterate them when I get the opportunity to in the House of Commons.”

Dale Langley, a founder member of the Weedon Action Group, said: “This letter to the Secretary of State isn’t just because we believe these particular plans are unsuitable for Weedon, it is because despite the fact that we hear from central government that local councils have the power to decide where development should happen, they simply don’t.

“In our case, the developer, Gladman boast that going to appeal is just part of the process in getting approval, no matter what opposition they face. Our local authority cannot afford to keep fighting these appeals and with baffling decisions such as this from an “independent” inspector being commonplace, people all over the country are rightly asking questions.”